Homemade curries in the 70s.

[Johnnyxgen]

Hi. I am trying to recreate the curry my mum made in the 70s for my now old and daft m&d.. I'm struggling with what she served as accompaniment..
So far I've got. Crisps. Sliced banana with dessicated coconut, major grey mango chutney and sliced tomato&onion and sliced cucumber. Did you put vinegar on the cucumber? Was raita even heard of in 70s Britain? Have I missed anything. Any help gratefully achieved. Jc.

The waterlogged rice had to be Patna rice or American long grain. We hadn’t progressed to Basmati. Or the pre-parboiled Uncle Ben’s which always stayed hard.

We had curry on Monday, made from the leftovers (planned) of Sunday's roast - unless it was pork, in which case it was sweet & sour. Chicken, beef or lamb was cooked up with chopped veg (fresh and leftovers, mostly seasonal.) On the side were desecrated* coconut, sultanas/raisins/currants (exactly which would depend on recent baking, I suspect,) sliced cucumber, sliced tomato, sliced banana and sometimes sliced boiled egg. Boiled egg might go into the curry itself, again, depending on what was in the fridge and what needed using up. There were often boiled eggs, ready to be peeled for sandwiches. Rice was just plain white long grain rice. My mother could cook pretty well, though, so I usually loved Monday dinner.

*The packet said dessicated, but we said desecrated. Its other main use was with green food colouring, to become "grass" on birthday cakes, and for occasional treat cooking like coconut ice, which also involved food colouring - cochineal

The rice should also be arranged in a ring with the curry in the middle.

On an oval plate is even better!

longwayoff

Grandfather used to make this in 1950s, Curry powder only, oh, and a couple of dried chillies if you dare.

Definitely 'Yes' to the curry powder, although my mother was very sparing with it: "Ooh, a teaspoon'll blow your head off!".
Chillis in any form were dead exotic. I tried a very small piece of a fresh, diced green chilli in a salad when I was 14 and thought my teeth were actually melting!

Should definitely have raisins or sultanas, be bright yellow, and be served with waterlogged rice.

The Homepride curry sauce you buy now is the most like the curry we had in the 80s

Oh yes it was made with mince, peas and Venkat curry powder. It had raisins and apple in it and desicated coconut, banana and chopped hard boiled egg on the side. I loved it.

Well, this thread is a revelation! You poor people, having to eat this 😂😱. Agree the banana (should have been plantain, entirely different) and coconut references, put together, sound more West Indian than Keralan. I’m guessing these were ideas that came over with the Windrush generation, rather than India-Indian recipes that came back with the English who lived in India? It’s but a mere skip, hop and jump from this to prawns in tomato aspic with celery curls!

My mum aged 85 years still makes this for my Dad.When I was staying with them last year I made them a Chicken Tikka Masala as I was so sick of spuds every single day .While setting the table my Dad was busy taking out the dessicated coconut , bananas and what not ( we never had boiled eggs Thank God) .He was quite put out and disappointed when I said that we didn't need them .He enjoyed my curry but did add that he thought my mums was better, that is the '70's curry 'with the raisins .

Overcooked long grain rice. Sunday’s leftover chicken and a few onions in a “curry sauce” which came in a packet in powder form and was mixed with water and magically thickened up in the pan when heated. Chicken curry creation then dolloped on top of aforementioned soggy rice. Very well cooked boiled egg halved and placed on top of curry. Sultanas straight from the packet sprinkled next to the rice. A few tinned peach slices on the side too for a special treat. Seemed quite exotic in the early 80s. Much loved by my father.

Mrs Breton's curry sauce recipe with apple and onion was the basis of most of the curries here, I think.

To be fair it's a lovely light sauce for prawns, but a bit bland for much else.
The accompaniments sound so weird, but I suppose it was the British interpretation of how such foods were eaten.

I don't think I've ever had a Vesta curry, but I remember ( surprisingly clearly so it much have made a big impact) a Vesta chow mein with crispy noodles on the top that we had as a treat once when I was very small.

Poor nothing, thank you very much! It was delicious! And no, it should not have been plantain, these are Indian curries, not West Indian/Carribean.

That's the one.

Horrible cheap minced beef and onion.
Curry powder.
Sultanas or raisins.
Badly waterlogged rice.

Living the dream.

goodfoodshared.blogspot.com/2012/05/delias-creamy-chicken-curry.html?m=1

My parents loved Delia's recipe with desiccated coconut and sultanas.

And no, it should not have been plantain, these are Indian curries, not West Indian/Carribean.

I think they were very much English curries rather than anything actually foreign - the very thought! Not that exotic ingredients like plantain would have been available in west Dorset at least, I shouldn't think. I remember new stuff like kiwi fruit coming in, probably around 1980.

I loved the crispy noodles with Vesta chow mein.

I'm shocked you all had soggy rice, though.

For a brief period of time my father worked for the British Army. An enormous treat was curry Sundays in the officers mess, so I can assure you this style of curry was imported from India via the Raj.

I have nothing to add, except we were offered three "flavours" hot , medium, and mild, and that the egg should be grated.

Thank you Cornishmumofone! I think that is the curry my mum used to make us - I'm going to cook it for DS and see what he thinks.

I loved my gran’s version of curry and wish I remember the ingredients well enough to cook it again .
I do know that along with coconut and sultanas she stirred in a big dollop of apricot jam ( I assume this was instead of mango sauce !) .

My in-laws still eat curry like this. Not a hint of a vegetable, just weirdly sweet sauce poured over meat, served with the aforementioned waterlogged white rice and sides of banana/boiled egg/sultanas/desiccated coconut. I think real curry would blow their minds.

No, not English (well, maybe the mince thing which sounds awful!), but Anglo-Indian. These were Indian curries adapted for British people in India, who then imported it back to England.

My God, this all sounds like stomach turning madness! What was with all the fruit? Pineapples, bananas, mandarins, raisins apples and dedicated coconut??
I’m beginning to be glad that my mum shared Len Goodman’s nan’s opinions about ‘foreign’ food!

Desiccated!! Hahaha

Oh and no yogurt because that was only strawberry ski !

Yes!! 😆
Remember my mums chicken curry being a weird yellow colour, also had raisins and tiny bits of diced apple in it and sliced banana in a lazy Susan.